Cody Simpson, Ryan Beatty, Before You Exit

[THE NEVER-ENDING SUMMER] Emerging as the best and perhaps only friend of Justin Bieber during the recent reign of paparazzi-threatening, sidewalk-spitting, neighbor-awakening callow terror, Cody Simpson's first headlining North American jaunt actually attracted attention beyond the middle-schooler demographic when the increasingly reclusive boy-king made a surprise appearance last week during his old tourmate's Los Angeles concert and sparkled like he'd spent years rehearsing the moment. Aussie native Simpson has precisely followed his elder's career blueprint, whether cultivating an audience through YouTubed cover balladry or gouging their parents through the oddly engaging grandiosity of Usher-on-Ice theatrical spectaculars to showcase a subtlety of pubescence. If one-tenth of 1 percent of the dizzying strangeness of Simpson's life came across through his music, we'd rank this summer's sophomore LP, Surfer's Paradise, among the grandest achievements ever recorded by a lad still just 16 years old. But, given the familiar banalities of the new single, it seems best to wait out the memoirs: Harper Collins publishes his autobiography this October.